I’d already written one novel in the 1990’s, based around six friends in Manchester (called Love Isn’t) but rather than editing and publishing, I moved on to other things, and in the middle of 2005 had developed the routine, much as the character in my next novel would, of recording my random thoughts and musings while I was soaking in the bath. In the words of Spandau Ballet, that much is true. And part of the first ‘lesson’ by the man in the bath, about who was the fifth Beatle, originated in one of those recordings.
These were the days prior to the mass adoption of or access to YouTube for the general public, long before the emergence of vloggers and influencers, even as a concept, and well before the sudden explosion of personality politics and popularity of the everyman politician, extolling the voice of the experiences of the person on the street over the intricacies of negotiation, economics, political philosophy and the unfortunate but practical necessity of compromise for effective government. But the idea came to me then, what if an everyday Joe could get a real mass audience for their own views and thoughts, without the media or political backing. That was the germ of the idea that started my second book, The Man in the Bath.
I would have been putting it together late 2006 just as V for Vendetta came out on video, and you’ll see the obvious influence towards the end of the book, though my version is in many ways the reverse of the film and [spoiler alert] there is less of a happy ending in mine.
While the story is, I think, very much of its time, I thought you might enjoy it, as it was huge fun to write, and let me create some truly ridiculous ‘sermons’ and philosophies in the mouth of my protagonist Dr David Dunn, and his alter ego, the Man in the Bath (aka MITB and Minty B), and work in just enough nuggets of logic or fact to make them plausible to his audience, and appeal to their lowest common denominators.
A version will be available on the website in the next couple of weeks!